An exclusive Grade I listed mansion in St James's tops the entire world table, with an asking price of £250 million (pictured above)

A London property also takes second place, the home of Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahdin Kensington Palace Gardens, which is on the market for £100 million

A Grade II listed mansion, formerly the London residence for William Lyle of the Tate & Lyle family, is in tenth place, at £65 million

Away from London, homes in New York dominate the rest of the list, along with one in Turkey.

No-one is surprised that London and New York have the most entries in the top ten as they are the two cities which best marry economic might with outstanding housing stock: you only need to think of Canary Wharf and Kensington Palace Gardens or Wall Street and Fifth Avenue.

But the other entries are revealing: wealth in America is much less concentrated than in England, so we see other centres like Los Angeles (film industry money), Dallas (oil) and Connecticut (hedge funds and finance).